The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1887-11-05


under DIR. French, demonstrate the
same facts.
These things being SO. and they are
undeniable, it is too late to claim that
whisky is generally regarded by medi-
cal practitioners to be tie life-sustain-
ing medicine" The q0eiGst of author
ity is against it. whatever may be true
of the number of physicians holding to
the oil theory.
The author asks: ''Where is the war;
rant aside from Zell's Encyclopedia,
for stating that alcohol is not assim-
Hated in the bodyP" Here are few
of the authorities:
DR.. Lionel Beale. T. Il. s., the emf
nent microscopic, declares: "Alcohol
does not act is food, it does not nour-
ish the tissues; it may diminish waste
by altering the constituents and chem
ical properties of the fluids and solids.
1t cuts short the life of rapid-growing
cells, or causes them to live more
slowly" That is, it cannot repair or
build up tissues, and being destitute of
hiOAOs.ShS ~ Sth NV luSLCotoC ICl W.
force. All it can do is to retard
changes in the cells, which really
amounts simply to hindering vital
changes and keeping efete matter in
the system.
DR.. Thomas Sewall, of Columbia Col
lege, who has made specially of the
study of the effects of alcoholic drinks
says: "Alcohol is poison ever at war
with mans nature; in all its forms and
degrees of strength it produces irrita-
ton of the stomach. No one
who INDUCES habitually in the use of
alcoholics, whether in the form of wine
or of more ardent spirits, possesses a
healthy stomach"
The stomach is the laboratory of the
body, where substance is prepared for
assimilation with the various tissues of
the body; is it reasonable to suppose
that substance which "always pro-
duces irritation of the stomach" thus
hindering or preventing the first step
toward assimilation, can itself "assim-
ilate in the bodyP'
| DR.. Smith, another F. r. S., declares
"Alcohol is not food; it interferes
with Authorization. Every substance
| that assimilates with the tissues under
| goes in the body chemical or vital
change, to give force or become
part of the organization. Now, there
no proof that alcohol does undergo
this change. Even the Final Expert
ments" of Anstie, the great apostle
of the doctrine of assimilation of alco-
hol, result only in "may be-" He
says: "a am obliged to declare that the
chemical evidence is as yet INSULT
cient to give any complete explanation
OF its exact manner of acting upon
the system; also, that when alcohol is
taken into the system the larger part
oft is excreted unchanged His only
point made is the supposition that the
part whose unchanged excretion we
| have not been ale to trace may, by
its rapid absorption and especial pro-
clivity toward the nervous centers ="
revive the nervous system and uphold
the powers of life until the body can
be supplied with its ordinary nutri-
ment in sufficient quantity to restore
the condition of healthy nutrition"
| Or. Anstie's Stimulants and Narcot-
les. page 714.)
Thus mis- whole argument rests upon
the theory that alcohol is nerve
stimulant, n theory later investigations
have disproved and declared it to be
always and every where q narcotic.
instead of stimulant, deadening
nervous action, instead of stimulating
it. For further light upon this SUBJ
ject we refer our friend of Open Court
to Prof. Palmer, of Michigan Universe
ty.
Liebig is another "strong tower" OF
those who cling 20 the alcohol-as-
similation theory. Yet Liebig says
emphatically that cheer, wine and
spirits furnish no element capable of
entering into the composition of the
blood, muscular fiber, or any part
which is the vital principle" If they
furnish no element capable of enter
ing into the composition of the
tissues Of the body, there surely can
be no assimilation with them. "Where
center is not can t ere be cirumfer-
| ence?"- Union SiqnQk.